Transparency

October 2013

Are your local candidates pledged to Transparency in Government? — The Thomas Jefferson Institute asked that question of 513 candidates for local office in Virginia for whom email addresses were available, asking them to pledge to support efforts to make government more transparent for the voters. Sixty-four candidates took the pledge and signed the “2013 Government Transparency Pledge.” Michael Thompson, President of the Jefferson Institute stated, "these local candidates have agreed that government should be more open and transparent, that budgets should be accessible on line as should government contracts, organizational charts and calendars of all meetings." He went on to say, "these candidates understand that government becomes better when the light of transparency is shown upon it."

Spend the New Transportation Dollars Wisely! —
Passage of the new transportation bill shifts the debate from a question of "Where are we going to get the money?" to "How are we going to spend the money?" Taxpayers need to make certain the new funds are spent in a way that relieves congestion and grows our economy. Here are some ideas for doing that. Read It Here!

March 2012

The Jefferson Journal: Prince William’s Discretionary Funds Should End Immediately — By Michael Thompson “Open government” and “transparent government” are the current code words for “good government.”So in today’s world, shouldn't taxpayers’ money be budgeted and not available as a “slush fund” to be used as the local Supervisors want? Not in Prince William County ... there, Supervisors are allowed to spend unallocated office funds in a manner that skirts the normal budgeting process. (3/1/2012) Read It Here!